Dear all,
after another illness related delay and a public holiday in Germany,
we finally received the first two GTA04A3 boards populated in
"module configuration". This means a variant where all components
with significant height are removed (USB connector, battery connector,
headset jack, pogo pins etc.) and some other functions (backlight
converter, display connector). Rather, these functions are available
on two 60 pin board-to-board connectors on the display side.
Well, this variant can't be used inside of a Freerunner case, but
it is a wireless PDA module where a second, larger board, can
carry this "cortex" board. The adapter board can also carry a bigger
display, additional sensors and hardware etc. I.e. we have a OMAP3
module with many options.
Today, both boards worked almost immediately, started U-Boot and
the kernel on a RS232 interface (the bare board has no buttons nor
display). As far as we did test today, there are only software bugs (e.g.
preventing that the second 256 MB DRAM bank is enabled; and we still
have a software fix in the u-boot code for a hardware problem of
the A2 version which now is no longer needed).
Here is a photo of the module:
http://download.goldelico.com/gta04/images/DSC00861.jpg
We will also make this module available if someone wants to
build his/her own tablet or handheld around it. Details how to
mount this will be described in the hardware documentation.
Now to the progress of the "full" GTA04. Since the first module
boards work well, the SMD company will pick&place two full blown
GTA04A3 boards tomorrow and Christoph and Rene
will be the first ones to test them starting on Thursday.
If the boards work well enough and don't reveal show-stoppers,
we can finally start to produce the long awaited Early-Adopter-boards.
Phew!
Nikolaus